Public School 6, Yonkers

Public School 6, one of our favorite ruins in Yonkers, is again slated for the wrecking ball. A plan to raze it several years ago and to construct a Walgreens on the site dissipated and the chosen developer was later implicated in some political scandal. Colin Gustafson of the Journal News reported yesterday that a new plan is in the works to demolish School 6 and build two apartment buildings on the site.

Displaced tenants from nearby Cottage Place may have the chance to move into these new buildings when that housing project is torn down. The City of Yonkers is aiming to demolish its mid-century public housing projects and replace them with modern apartments and townhouses. Mulford Gardens was the first such housing project to be demolished; it came down in 2009.

School 6 in Yonkers sat abandoned and neglected since it closed. Its roof began to cave in during the 20o0s, resulting in a partial roof collapse around early 2007. All photos of School 6 shown here were taken March 3, 2007.

A bonus photo today is a ghost sign on an adjacent apartment building on Ashburton Avenue, for Barton Chapin Real Estate and Insurance.

Other decommissioned schools throughout the Hudson Valley found new life in the second half of the 20th century as apartments, offices and day care centers. Unfortunately the same was not done for School 6. It certainly would have served any of those purposes well.

Bonus #2:

Yonkers doesn’t have the only abandoned Public School 6 in the Hudson Valley. Here is School 6, another nice piece of architecture, in Newburgh.

Thanks for your note – sorry you’ve got to see your old school decay like this. I didn’t go to any schools half as interesting as P.S. 6. Really too bad it is going to be demolished. If you have any old photos or yearbook shots of the school, I’d be glad to post them here.

It would be nice to make the site a community center for the kids of Yonkers, if I had the money thats what I would do with it. They wonder why the streets are filled with violence. Because our children have nothing to do and no where to go. SMH. How much would it take to bring that building back to life, for the community.

I graduated from PS 6 in the summer of 1940. They played a song popular at that time: I’ll be with you in apple blossom time. I visited Yonkers about 20 years ago from my home in Los Angeles. I was sad to see the condition of the school and the area in general.

I graduated PS #6 in 1965, then went on to Hawthorne JHS and Yonkers HS. I live in Long Island now, but I like to pass by PS #6 every few years to see what remains of it. I passed by yesterday, June 9, 2013, and was flabbergasted to see it totally razed, and grass growing in part of the area where the building stood. There’s a high wooden fence around the site, but there are cracks in the fence. I guess I won’t be seeing my principal Mr. Radko there anymore.

I started kindergarten At ps 6 in 1963, back when the annex was new and modern. I visited Yonkers after 40 years, and wow, what a difference. My street is totally different ( Quincy Place) And my beloved ps 6 is gone. I remember my teacher, Mrs Ward teaching us Halloween songs and our ABCS, and right from wrong. What aloss, good bye old school.

Recently took some photos of the new apartments being built. It looks as if the arched entrance to the school is being preserved in the new construction.
I was there only for the 6th grade & graduated in 1958. On to Longfellow then Gorton & finally Hackley in Tarrytown before Princeton & Columbia Law School.
Fond memories!

I went to this school from 1957-1960. I remember playing dodge ball in the gym which was located in the basement. Every spring they use to have competition in different games and all the students would participate by forming two teams, the Gold Team and the Blue Team.
I remember Mrs. Marhes (not sure about the spelling) my 6th grade Teacher.

Mrs Crier, 4th grade,’61. Mrs Donahue, 5th grade, 62. Mrs. Scotto, 6th grade, 63. Loved them all, loved PS #6 and loved growing up in Schlobohm. Hope they come up with a time machine someday to go back to such a wonderful place that Yonkers was. RIP #6, Cottage Gardens, Longfellow JHS and the all shops and stores on Ashburton Ave. where you could live and die without ever having to leave because of everything that was once there.

Does anyone know where schools 1,2, and 3 were? I do believe the Yonkers schools were all numbered. I believe I came across something that said School 1 was where Runyon Heights housing projects is now. As for 2 & 3 I don’t know. I know PS 4 was near Yonkers avenue, and was torn down to make low-income housing. Like so many historic buildings Yonkers did nothing to preserve them. Thanks for preserving the memories of old Yonkers everyone. And thank you for your great work Rob.

Went to P.S.6 for kindergarten, Mrs. Ward, and 1st grade Miss Barnes in the annex, then went to p.s.12, but due to crowding, was sent back to p.s. 6 for 6th grade. Miss Moore, whose classroom was on the 3rd floor with the most beautiful view of the Hudson River. So sad these beautiful historic buildings are not preserved.

Not sure if this is the school No 6 (then known as John M. Mason school) on Ashburton, but if it was, my great grandfather, Thomas May born in 1870, went to school there. In his obituary it mentions the school.

My family also lived on Mulford Street. All the buildings were razed to make Mulford Gardens.

I along with many of my life-long friends lived in Cottage Place Gardens which was adjacent to School #6. The school was a huge part of our lives as well as CPG. Down the hill from P.S.6 was a church that was turned into the Getty Square Neighborhood Center(GSNC),which became our home away from home. This center combined with school 6 kept us out of trouble,focused on school, and provided us with a safe haven when we needed it. It formed our lives and guided us in the most positive way. I can’t begin to say how much both these institutions meant to me, personally. School 6 was one of our playgrounds after school as well as GSNC, the basketball court at Commerce H.S. on North Broadway, the creek behind Schlobaum houses and other historical sites in and around Yonkers. But I digress. P.S. 6 is where I was a junior safety officer,won the foul shot contest, and played Scrooge in” A Christmas Carol” for a couple of years, as well as learning how to play the trumpet(wish I had followed-up with that). I hate to see it go but hope it provides much needed housing for people in dire need of it. God bless you School#6. I ,personally, will never and can’t ever forget you. I can’t go without mentioning the most important educator that has ever been a part of my life, Mrs. Cryer. Thanks for whacking me across the knuckles with that ruler and sending me home crying to my parents who sent me back to school to apologize for whatever minor indiscretion I was guilty of. Life lesson in there somewhere.

My father, George McNeil Morrison, graduated from John M. Mason School (later to be named School #6) in a commencement exercise held on June 22, 1920. He lived less than a block away at 12 Ashburton Place which ran perpendicular to Ashburton Avenue. Ashburton Place could be easily seen from the school and my father said that he was never able to play hooky because he would be easily spotted down the block. I still have the Commencement Exercise Program. In a recent visit to the area, I was happy to see that the apartment building on the former site of School #6 has architectural details incorporated into it that resemble the old school building. How nice to see. Also, it was nice to see that plaque on the building which honored Edwin Howard Armstrong, the inventor of FM radio who graduated from School #6 in 1905.

It was so lovely to read all your memories and comments on this websote with out realising it you all memorialized each person who ever visited and loved this school. It was an honor to try apply for this building. In the future if I apply again(if I can find an application) and if I ever did get an apartment it would be wonderful to be sit and have dinner with you all. So much history here and I love it. I hope Yonkers preserves more instead of destroying.